turnoff

[turn-awf, -of]

noun

1. a small road that branches off from a larger one, especially a ramp or exit leading off a major highway.

   He took the wrong turnoff and it took him some 15 minutes to get back on the turnpike.

2. a place at which one diverges from or changes a former course.

3. an act of turning off.

4. the finished product of a certain manufacturing process, as weaving.

5. the quantity of fattened livestock distributed to market.

6. Slang.,  something or someone that makes one unsympathetic or antagonistic.

Word History and Origins

Origin of turnoff¹

First recorded in 1680–90; noun use of verb phrase turn off

Example Sentences

Yet there is also a possibility that OpenAI’s mass-market appeal becomes a turnoff for corporate customers who want AI to be more boring and useful than fun and edgy.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

I passed the turnoff to the waterfall, climbed the steep paved hill and touched the Pinecrest Gate leading out to the streets of Altadena.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Finally, the continually shrinking foal crop has made race fields small, a turnoff for bettors who like full fields to offer more options.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The one time the Met tried a remarkable Wagner staging, Robert Wilson’s production of “Lohengrin,” it proved an audience turnoff.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Pence’s sorry treatment at Trump’s hands apparently is no turnoff, however, for ambitious Republicans coveting proximity to power and possession of Air Force Two, should Trump be elected again.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bore 
• deterrent 
• drag 
• nuisance 
• pain